Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Tula Pink Giveaway Time!

Can you believe that May is almost over?  Bet you thought we forgot to give you a chance to win some of Tula's newest FreeSpirit Collection Night Shade?  Halloween is the number one time when enthusiast and wannabe sewers alike dust off their machines to create costumes, home decor or just something spooky spectacular.  We've dusted our machines off too to give you inspiration to "boo-ify" your life this Halloween with something Tula-ish.

To add to the fun, our friends at Schmetz Needles recorded this at the recent International Quilt Market.  Here Tula talks about Nightshade and her new collection The Birds and The Bees, from Freespirit. She also shares her new book called The House of Tula Pink. What fun!



Now that you are properly Tula-fied, tell us your favorite Halloween costume story.  Did you make something for your kids and they refused to wear it? Did you blow up purple balloons and make someone a bunch of grapes? How creative were you in your efforts to "celebrate" an occassion that allows you, once a year, to be something other then you?



Six random commentors will be selected to win six, one yard cuts of FreeSpirit Night Shade by Tula Pink.  Winners will be selected and announced on June 4. Enjoy!




Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tula Pink Tutorial

I'm sure you have been drooling over all of the great projects you see in market photos...well here is a little tutorial brought to you by Melissa Peda to get your inspiration flowing. Enjoy!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Spring Quilt Market 2012; a visual review


If you could have a craft room, what would you envision?
  There just aren't words to explain how visually inspiring Quilt Market is for the retailer, designer's, bloggers and even our company.  Here is a visual overview of our designer's who attended and our booth. Enjoy!
We are the lifestyle of sewing and quilting.
Our selection of fabrics makes it all possible.
More fashions including Ty Pennington Impressions WOW dress,
a rendition of a dress worn on the the red carpet at the Oscars.
FreeSpirit Valori Wells Cocoon mixed with Designer Essentials.


 


Jaguar covered in FreeSpirit Field Study by Anna Maria Horner
   
FreeSpirit artists Jane Sassaman and Verna Mosquera

Sister brand Rowan, Cameo by Amy Butler

FreeSpirit Cocoon by Valori Wells

Lots of Pre-Cut Bundles and fun ideas!

FreeSpirit Anna Maria Horner and Field Study







Verna Mosquera, Tina Givens, Amy Butler, Parson Gray



   
FreeSpirit Tula Pink The Birds and The Bees

FreeSpirit Denyse Schmidt and Chicopee




FreeSpirit Joel Dewberry and his new patterns made from Heirloom
 
Another sister brand Ty Pennington Impressions
 


Sister brand Rowan


FreeSpirit


Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Night Shade by Tula Pink

Editor's Note: It's May and time to get to know the truly talented and creative Tula Pink. What makes an artist hide designs within her art? Read below as she tells you the story behind her newest FreeSpirit collection, Night Shade celebrating her favorite holiday, Halloween! 


You may be familiar with my light side, little critters illustrated in bright colors, a happy frog with a fly in his belly, a cameo of Marie Antoinette with head full of hair in the shape of a ship or a mouse… I would like to introduce you to my dark side. Please meet Nightshade (15 Cotton SKUs availble in May), the pinnacle of dark elegance and the sinister mystery of the three Von Black sisters of Blackwood Manor.

The question that designers get asked the most is where they get their inspiration from. My inspiration comes from narrative. I tell myself stories and then I illustrate them. Storytelling in the form of books, movies, tales passed down through generations from father to son and mother to daughter are at the core of what makes me want to create.

For me Halloween is about a mood. Sure, the candy is awesome and I will never stop pondering how two people decide who gets to be the front of a cow and who gets to be the back. Sugar and costumes aside Halloween is about mystery, magic, shadows and intrigue. This is what I set out to capture when I designed Nightshade. It's a Halloween collection inspired by victorian decadence and dangerous beauty with a touch of quirky fun. Let's face it, if it isn't fun it's probably not worth doing.

I am excited to see how people use this curve ball I have thrown at them. When the photos of finished projects start popping up I feel like it's my birthday! I adore seeing what everyone comes up with.


The Von Black Sisters: A Brief History

Neptunia Von Black, the youngest sister, left home at the age of nine to pursue a career in Pirating. By 12, Neptunia was captaining her own ship and striking fear into the hearts of yellow bellied pirates across the seven seas. Neptunia is also responsible for procuring exotic ingredients and tracking down mystical relics for her two sisters. It was during one of these relic hunts that Neptunia lost her eye in a fight with a sea turtle, hence the eye patch.

Scarlett Von Black is the oldest of the three sisters. Scarlett’s ninth and most recent husband perished in a freak weather accident much like her previous eight husbands. Although law enforcement has never been able to prove her involvement some still speculate as to how a man can drown in three inches of rain. Most of the Von Black family wealth is attributed to Scarlett thanks to a shocking lack of prenuptial agreements.

Bella Donna Von Black is the middle sister, the alchemist, the brain, the pride and joy of the Von Black family tree. Bella Donna allegedly poisoned her entire calculus class with a batch of smoking absinthe cookies as a 16th birthday present to herself. They’re collective lack of ambition was holding back her education. Her genius lies in managing to transform the most innocuous compounds into a rainbow of deadly vapors. Bella Donna is named for the flower which grows all over Blackwood Manor and is more commonly known as Nightshade.
XX,

Tula

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Winner of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 5 is . . . .


VickiT! Thanks to all who visiting the FreeSpirit blog as part of the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks blog tour.  We hope you enjoyed our post and poked around a bit to see some of the tutorials and other fun things we do on your blog.  Please come back, or better yet follow us.  Each month this year we are featuring  guest posts from our Designers and giveaways!!! Lots of fun, lots of fabric, lots to enjoy. Join us in July when we host our Christmas in July Block-A-Thon! Congratulations VickiT!

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Winners, Winners to enjoy Valori Wells' Coccon!

We did not forget our promise to randomly select six winners to enjoy the beauty of Valori Wells' newest FreeSpirit collection Cocoon.  Without further adieu, our winners of her Cocoon Cotton are Amorette and Judy1522.  Selected to enjoy the incredible softness and beauty of her Cocoon voiles are BarbinMi and Mimi.  Last, but certainly not least, hiyacinth and Beth can create something fantastic from her Cocoon Linen Cotton fabrics. We'd love to see what you create from these fabrics!  Stay tuned because in May we are featuring our own FreeSpirit designer Tula Pink and her edgy new Halloween fabrics called Night Shade, but you have to comment to win.  You'll learn there is an interesting and quite detailed story behind each of her prints.  We'd love for you to  follow us too . . . we "heart" our blogger friends!